Thursday, November 10, 2011

"Because It's There"

Tonight, thanks to Ellen, Jason and I got to have a fun little date night in downtown Raleigh. Ellen passed on some gifted tickets to Martinis to the Max at the Marbles museum in downtown Raleigh.

On the 2nd Thursday of each month, the IMAX theater at Marbles hosts a cocktail hour followed by a documentary film showing. This month, the film was "The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest." Jason was thrilled about seeing snow IMAX style and watching this film on a subject he loved. I was just excited about the marbletinis.

So we dressed up a bit and headed to downtown. The marbletinis were alright -- but the film: it told a riveting story. There were actually two intertwined stories: the story of George Mallory, the man who could have been the first person to summit Everest and Conrad Anker who found his body in tact 75 years later and then went on to retrace his steps.

The original story is an incredible tale, that somehow I hadn't ever heard.

One of the most fascinating segments was the retelling of an interview Mallory did when preparing for one of his three expeditions to Everest. When asked by a New York Times reporter why he would want to climb Mount Everest, Mallory is said to have replied "Because it's there."

This baffled me. It inspired me. If I'm honest: it made me feel a little inadequate. I have set about making boundaries for my work and personal life, for my faith and friends. I have certainly come up with multitudes of reasons why I could not physically push myself: the workout is too long, it's too cold out, there is more work to be done, etc. But not Mallory. With no creature comforts, no end in sight and at whatever cost - he was going to climb that mountain. And not because no one else had or because everyone else had or because someone told him to or not to...simply because it was there.

I am baffled. inspired. feeling a little inadequate. What can I accomplish...? where will I go...?What will I feel compelled to because it's there?